Reversed
by esama
Summary: ABANDONED. In which Atemu is the hikari instead of being the spirit of the Puzzle. Manga centric
1. I chapter

**Reversed**

**I chapter **

Atemu knew that he had things going his way, as they said. He was one of the most popular guys of his entire school - girls liked him, boys would've liked to be him. He did well in his studies and was the pet of every other teacher - well, with the exception of the physical education teacher and Chouno, but that woman liked no one. He also had a good home - somewhat strange but otherwise loving grandfather and as many games as he ever could've wanted.

Yet he didn't have one thing he wanted to have, and that was a friend. Yes, sure, he had people flocking around him and everyone would've liked to be his confidant, but in the end none of those people were truthful in their liking for him. They liked him because he was handsome, because he did well in his studies, because he was confident and regal, because he was well liked by others… but no one really knew enough of him to know _him_ alone. If he would've told a single secret to any of those so called friends, they would've spreaded that secret around the school in fife minutes flat just to have the pleasure of telling everyone that they had been the first ones to know Atemu Mutô's secret.

Atemu liked and could trust none of those who he had around him. They were just sycophants, sticking around him in hopes that they could become like him, that they could get piece of what made him the way he was. If they flocked around him then maybe they would too become popular and handsome in the eyes of others.

What he wanted was a single person in who he could confine in. someone who would listen to him and speak to him, someone who wouldn't give his secrets away and would at least attempt to understand him. It shouldn't have been, but apparently was, such a big thing to ask for. He didn't dare to ask, though, not out loud. If he would word this wish, then people would flock around him harder than ever, looking to please and fawn only to backstab and betray.

So, he often pondered to himself with amusement, it was no wonder that he was entrusting his secret wish to pieces of a golden Puzzle. The Puzzle had been given to him - unwittingly - by his grandfather when he had been seven, and since then he had been trying his hardest to solve it. His grandfather had back then told him what there was written in the Puzzle's box would grant something to the person who completed it. Wish maybe.

His childhood fantasies still lingered in that box and those pieces, and though Atemu had matured since then he still couldn't help but harbour a childish superstition and hope that the Puzzle would grant his wish if he would be able to complete it. And for years he had been wishing for the same thing. For a true, loyal and trusty friend.

-

Atemu sighed heavily as the bell ring s the sign of the end of the class. As the recess begun, some headed outside with a rush - boys to play basketball and girls to do whatever. Yet, not surprisingly, most stayed inside and looked at him, waiting for him to decide what they would be doing thorough the recess. Giving him the authority over their free time like they always did. As if they were incapable of deciding on their own.

Atemu bit back a sigh, whishing that they could flock around someone else; look for someone else for direction - like Seto Kaiba, that guy would've just loved to have this attention. What would've he done for just some time alone with his thoughts - and maybe with the Puzzle which he didn't dare to take out in _their_ company.

"Hey, Atemu," one of the boys heading outside called for him. "How about some basketball? Girls could join too, so it'll be more fun."

Atemu contemplated for this as the others looked at him anticipation. Deciding what to do, he nodded. "Sure, why not, he said while standing up. Immediately everyone else stood up as well and begun to head outside. Atemu himself stalled, taking his time in taking his bag and closing its lid. By the time he headed for the door, everyone had already left, the noise they made heading away.

Instead of stepping out of the classroom, Atemu closed the door with a sigh. "Thank gods," he murmured to himself while heading back to his seat and slumping down. "Some quiet. Hopefully they'll stay out there thorough the entire recess."

Running his hand through his spiky two-colour hair, Atemu opened the lid of his bag and pulled out the very Egypt-ish container inside which his Puzzle was. "Hello, my treasure," he murmured and just looked at the box for a moment, his eyes trailing over the hieroglyphics and eye insignia engraved into it. And inside was the Puzzle. "Something you can see, but have never seen before," Atemu murmured with a smile, remembering what his grandfather had said about the Puzzle.

And suddenly the box was plugged from his hands. "Wha --?" Atemu asked with confusion and looked up to see the two biggest guys of his class - and the meanest too. Katsuya Jonouchi and Hiroto Honda - the latter was holding the box, grinning at him.

"Well, if it isn't Mister Popular, all alone. What happened, did your fans leave you all alone here?" Honda asked with a wide, mean grin while holding the box up so that even if Atemu would try to get it he wouldn't reach. The dark haired boy looked at the box curiously. "And what is this?"

"_Something you can see, but have never seen before_? This thing is like some kind of make up kit," Jonouchi muttered while taking the box from Honda's hands. "How girly of you, Atemu. Is that kind of thing in fashion these days?"

"I wouldn't know," Atemu spoke through gritted teeth. Honda and Jonouchi weren't part of the group usually following him; instead they liked to pick on him. He wasn't sure why exactly, maybe because he was the most popular kid of the school but nonetheless, it was annoying from time to time.

"Well, being girly is kind of pathetic," Jonouchi looked down upon him with appraising look. "You really need to become a man, Atemu; you can't survive with girlyness alone out there. So, if you want the box back, you got to attack and take it for yourself! Otherwise you'll never become a man!"

Atemu's eye ticked a little as he looked at the blonde before him. "I really don't understand your logic," he muttered. "Maybe because I prefer brains over brawn. It's the painless path, you see."

"Pfft," Jonouchi grimaced with distance. "You're really hopeless."

Atemu rolled his eyes. "In any case, would you please return my box?" he asked, not really holding any hope of getting it that easily. He would probably have to black mail the two bullies with something - black mail or bribe, whichever worked better.

"No way," Honda grinned widely.

"What's in this anyway?" Jonouchi asked while looking at the box curiously. "Let's see."

Now Atemu stood up, glaring. "You may look, but don't lose anything from the box, or I swear to god I will --"

"You'll what?" Jonouchi grinned and peaked inside the box. His grin faded into disappointment as he closed the lid again. "How boring," he muttered and turned to leave, throwing the box over his shoulder much to Atemu's horror. "Honda, catch."

But before the dark haired boy could, the box was caught from mid air - by Mazaki Anzu. Atemu sighed with relief at the sight of his friend - well, Anzu was something of a friend anyway, bit better than the groupies but not really a confidant. "Anzu," Atemu greeted her with a smile.

"If it's so boring, then give it back to him," she glared at two boys, who looked a bit frightened now. "Pathetic, you have no right to pick on Atemu just because he's better than you'll ever be. Get out of here before I do something I doubt I'll regret."

As the two bullies made their hasty exit - vowing revenge as they did so - Anzu turned to Atemu and handed the box back. "Here you go," she said with a smile. "It's important isn't it? Nothing unimportant would've gotten rise out of you."

"Yeah, thanks Anzu," Atemu smiled and gently placed the box down to the table. "I thought you went to play basketball with the others."

"Yeah, but it certainly wasn't as fun as they made it seem," the girl groaned with a grimace. "The boys passed onto the girls a lot so that they could get some panty shots, those perverts. We left them playing alone and got a good teaching; no basketball in miniskirts."

Atemu couldn't help but chuckle, then quickly docking the girl's heated glare. "So," Anzu switched the subject. "What's in the box anyway?"

"Hmm… yeah, I haven't shown it to you now that I think about it…" Atemu placed his hand over the box. "Well, if you'll keep it to yourself…"

"Of course," Anzu promised sternly.

With a slight smile, Atemu took the lid off to show the golden pieces inside. "Wow," the girl smiled. "Golden, how pretty… are they pieces of something? All broken too…"

"Yeah, it's a puzzle," Atemu took two of the pieces with a shrug. "I don't even know what it is. I kind of nicked it from grandpa's shop when I was about seven - it was just gathering dust there. I've been trying to solve it since."

Anzu looked at him with surprise. "Eight years?"

"Yeah, pretty much," Atemu sighed and placed the pieces back to the box gently. "This thing was found from Egypt - some tomb, according to grandpa." He tilted the box a bit to look at the writing. "...which is kind of obvious when you look at the box. When I was kid I thought that if I would solve the Puzzle, it would grant me one wish. It's silly when I think of it now, but back then I really believed in it."

"And you don't think so anymore?" Anzu asked curiously.

Atemu chuckled. "Well, maybe little. Mostly I carry this thing around because I really want to solve it - I've been trying to do it for so long that it would be just weird not to try anymore. Sure it would be amazing if my wish would come true, but… I just want to solve it really."

"I'm sure you will some day - and your wish will come true too," Anzu winked at him with a smile

"Heh, one can hope," Atemu agreed with a smile.

"What are you going to wish for then?" Anzu asked, leaning forward with interest.

"Nuh-uh, it isn't a secret if I tell you, now is it?" the boy winked back.

-

Outside the class room, Jonouchi and Honda were walking down the hall, muttering angrily. "Annoying girl," Jonouchi muttered with a grimace. "Who was picking on someone better than they are, now?"

"I think she meant us," Honda murmured with sour look of his own just as they collided with a figure which had been walking towards them. Looking up, Honda paled as he recognised the towering figure of Ushio, the largest brute of the entire school - and meanest, that guy ruled the entire school.

"Did you say something about picking on?" the tall boy asked, looking down upon them with look which was something similar to glare, or maybe a stare of death.

"Nothing!" Jonouchi said with a disgruntled frown. "You stay away from --"

"Nothing, nothing," Honda assured fervently while clamping his hand over Jonouchi's mouth to keep the blonde from saying anything incriminating - or something which would piss the towering guy off.

"Right. Well, picking on others isn't a good thing," Ushio murmured, throwing one last suspicious look at them before walking away.

"Are you an idiot?!" Honda hissed to Jonouchi after the big guy had walked away. "Pick your fights more carefully! That was Ushio, the meanest guy I know - not to mention _biggest_! He controls the entire school and no one dares to say anything against him, not even Atemu!"

Finally free from his friend's hold, Jonouchi panted for clean breath. "You jerk, that hurt!" he growled while rubbing his chin. Then he threw a look at the direction where big teen had left. Aggravated by everything that had happened, he felt little daring. "Ushio! Let's have a real match sometime!" he cried, but thankfully the big guy was too far to hear.

"What a day," Honda murmured while kicking the nearest wall to release some tension. "Nothing but trouble!"

"Well, not really," Jonouchi smirked and pulled out a small golden piece with eye-insignia in it. "Tadaah! I took this from Mister Popular's little make up box," he grinned widely. "I didn't really look at it that closely, but some kind of puzzle it was. Well, without this that thing is nothing but trash."

Honda snickered. "Well done, I didn't even see you nick that thing."

"Well, I'm going to do --" Jonouchi pulled the hand back, "-- this to it!" he cried and threw the golden out of the window. It flew nice and far, landing the school's swimming pool. "Haha! Take that, Mister Popular!" he said with triumph. _Treasure, yeah right,_ he thought with distaste. _How girly_.

-

When the school finally was over, Atemu was more than looking forward to getting home. Though he had managed to avoid the groupies during the recess, they had flocked around him immediately after and hadn't left him alone - supposedly sorry about "leaving him alone" like they had during the break. Bidding the many people following him good byes and promising to see them the next day, Atemu headed towards the school gates, sighing with relief of being again alone.

"You're Atemu, right?" Someone suddenly spoke up, and Atemu looked up to see Ushio standing near the school's wall. "I'm Ushio, I supervise the school so that there aren't any problems. I have something I'd like to ask from you."

"Ah," Atemu frowned a little, knowing that what ever Ushio had in his mind wouldn't be good. "Alright then."

"Might there be someone in your class who are picking on you, bullying you?" Ushio asked.

Thinking back to Jonouchi and Honda, Atemu shrugged. "Not really," he said uncaringly. Those two thugs he could handle on his own, easily enough.

"Yes, that's what every bullied person says," Ushio nodded as if knowingly. "But I already know so you have nothing to fear, nothing to fear at all! Because after this I shall be your bodyguard!"

"I really don't need a bodyguard, so thank you but no thank you," Atemu rolled his eyes in annoyance, and walked away. "What a creep…"

He didn't notice the smirk the big thug sent after him.

-

"I'm home!" Atemu called as he opened the front door of the Game shop. Not for the first time, he smiled at the idea of living in a game shop - sure, he knew no other way of life, but he still felt twinge of pleasure at the thought. As a person who loved mental challenges, game shop was an ideal place to live in.

"Atemu?" a voice called from behind him, causing him to look behind. It was Anzu. "Hi! I thought I'd visited you, as I haven't in a while. You don't mind, right?"

"Nah not with you," Atemu smiled. "You're actually decent company when compared to few I know."

"Ah, that makes me feel so special," Anzu rolled her eyes as they stepped into the stop.

"Welcome!" Sugoroku called as they stepped in, surprising Anzu who hadn't expected to be yelled right at the face. "Ooh, Anzu! You haven't visited in a while haven't you, girl? Well look at you, you've certain grown, very nice --"

"Shut it," Atemu said while sharply slapping the old man to the back of his head, knowing that if the old man was given the chance he would blabbering about certain measurements. Looking up to the girl, Atemu smirked. "Better get away from here before he starts to talk nonsense."

"Nonsense?! _Nonsense_? Like your nonsense with the Puzzle?" Sugoroku asked, narrowing his eyes while grinning diabolically. "Eight years and you still haven't given up with it, of have you? You should, you should. The Millennium Puzzle is beyond human comprehension, impossible to solve by someone like you. There's a curse on it too…"

While Atemu rolled his eyes, Anzu looked disturbed and curious in the same time. "Curse…?" she asked

"Oh yes," Sugoroku leaned forward now that he had an audience. "The Millennium Puzzle was found many years ago by group of British archaeologists - from the Valley of the Kings, where the pharaoh's are buried. Soon after they brought the Puzzle to the day of light, they all died mysteriously one by one…"

Sugoroku grinned. "When the final one of them died, he said _Shadow Games_ as his last words…" the old man ended his tale in malicious little giggle.

"Ah, Atemu?" Anzu asked carefully while Atemu was trying to stifle a groan. "Maybe you should leave the Puzzle alone and -"

Rolling his eyes, Atemu looked down to the box. "Shadow Games, huh? That's kind of cool," he tilted the box a bit and followed the hieroglyphs with his fingers. "Who shall complete the Puzzle, his shall be the wisdom and power of the shadows," he pretended to be reading before making a high pitched squeal of mock excitement. "Yay! My wish shall come true! Now I'm motivated and shall complete the Puzzle within minutes."

Snickering at the look Anzu was giving, Atemu calmly raised the Puzzle upon his head as Sugoroku tried to make for it. "No, give it tome, I shall sell it to some antique collector and get good money out of it!" his grandfather cried while trying to reach for it.

"Hands of, old man, the Puzzle's mine," Atemu said, not for the first time happy that he was little bit taller than his grandfather. As the old man continued to try ant take it, Atemu looked at the girl who was watching at them with flat look about her face. "Sorry, Anzu. I don't think he has had his pills yet."

"Pills? Why I ought to --! Give that Puzzle!"

"It's mine, I inherited it," Atemu answered calmly.

"I'm still living, you twerp!"

Later after Anzu had left, Sugoroku had calmed down and Atemu had finished his homework, he sat at his desk in his room, lazily trying to complete the Puzzle like he had in many, many nights before going to bed. As few of the pieces found their places against each other, he wondered to himself what would happen if he really _could_ complete it - and what he would do with it afterwards. There was one piece in the Puzzle which had a thick leather strap attached to it as if the Puzzle was some kind of necklace. Maybe if he managed to complete it he could carry it around his neck and in that way have his treasure with him always.

Continuing to twiddle the Puzzle, he eventually fell asleep with his cheek against the desk.

-

Next day, Atemu managed to pry the flocking people fro him by using the cover of "I'm tired, leave me alone". While they had went to play basketball, Atemu was trying to wake himself up in the classroom, cursing himself for falling asleep against the table when there had been a perfectly good table just beside him. Yawning, he rubbed his eyes and took some comfort in the fact that he had gotten decent amount of the pieces together.

"Atemu!" Voice suddenly started the boy who was still trying to get his mind into full alert. It was Ushio who was smiling rather frightening manner. "Could you come with me a bit, I want to show you something?"

Bit too tired to process his own thoughts; Atemu just yawned again and nodded before following the big brute. The big guy led him out of the school and to the back. As sleepy Atemu got s mind into somewhat awakened state, he began to get suspicious. "What exactly did you want to show me, Ushio?" he asked, narrowing his eyes a bit.

"You just wait," the brute smiled widely. "It a happy surprise… right there. See here, Atemu?" the big guy motioned at something.

Atemu grimaced. It was Jonouchi and Honda, apparently beaten rather badly. The blonde teen's face was bruising badly, and the brunet's nose was bleeding. "Oh this is just great," Atemu murmured with a groan. "Yo, Jonouchi, Honda? You two still alive?" he glanced at the brute beside him. "I guess this is your doing, huh?"

"I did say that I'm your bodyguard, didn't I?" Ushio smirked widely. "I paid these bullies back - with interest - what they did to you."

"Oh, how peachy," Atemu rolled his eyes, already knowing what was to come. People like Ushio were all the same and you couldn't live in city like domino without seeing one or dozen of them. "Jonouchi, Honda, are you two okay?" he asked with a frown. He knew that he would get the fall for this, but the two still looked like they could use some time in the nurse's office.

Jonouchi groaned with pain and grimaced at him. "Are you now happy… Atemu?"

"Not really," Atemu said flatly. "Even though this does probe that brains over brawn is more painless path to take, I didn't actually require demonstration. And despite what ever you're thinking, I didn't cause th --"

"Out of the way," Ushio interrupted him, taking hold of his shoulder and pushing him aside. "I'm not done punishing them." Stepping forward, he delivered sharp kick to Jonouchi's middle.

"Oi, stop that!" Atemu cried, not having believed that the brute would actually do something like this right before his eyes. Stepping between the two downed teens and the grinning brute, Atemu glared at him. "Are you insane? Its one thing to do this behind my back and make it look like it's all my fault - but to do it in front of me? Are you entirely idiotic? As a witness I can have you arrested for this!"

"What?" Ushio asked with nasty grin. "Are you actually truing to protect them? How weird. This is your chance for pay back! Do to them as they did to you!"

"As brutish as they are, even these two don't deserve that - and it's not like I would actually hurt them even if they did!" Atemu growled, disgusted by the mere idea.

"You really are protecting them? You must be joking; they're always picking on you!" Ushio had a disbelieving smile on his face.

"Yeah, well, everyone have their hobbies," Atemu muttered. Jonouchi and Honda, as annoying as they could be, at least didn't treat him like he was some kind of idol or something. "Besides these two can be rather entertaining on a good day."

"Well, whatever," the brute muttered with a smirk. "But as I have already worked for you this well, you have some paying up to do! Bodyguard's fee, you know… Two-hundred-thousand yen!

"Oh great," Atemu looked up to the sky with sarcasm written all over his face. "Why didn't I see this coming?"

"With two-hundred-thousand yen you can beat them up as much as you like, take out some stress," Ushio continued. "And if you don't pay… I'll beat them so badly that they'll need some hospital care."

Grimacing, Atemu glanced at the two before them. Jonouchi and Honda were pretty tough guys, but they were already in pretty bad shape. And the more he saw of this disgusting play, the less he like it. "I'll pay," Atemu spoke through grind teeth. "If you leave them alone _now_."

"Not just yet," Ushio smirked and stepped forward. "A little taste of what shall happen if you _forget_ to pay --"

But before he could hit Jonouchi again, Atemu finally got enough of it and stepped into the way. Grimacing at the feel of the first impact, he was thrown aside painfully. He stifled a groan. It wasn't like he hadn't ever been hit before, but _damn _that hurt.

"What are you doing?" Ushio asked with confusion. "Did you finally lose it? Well, no matter. Let me show _you_ instead what will happen if you won't pay!" and then, before Atemu could even move, he was kicked painfully to his stomach, before he was hit again. Biting his teeth and closing his eyes as he struggled to keep all sounds inside, Atemu didn't see Jonouchi staring at him with horror.

When Ushio finally stopped, Atemu was in too much pain to move. "That should be enough for now," the brute said, kicking Atemu for the final time, causing now bruised teen to cough painfully. "You better remember the money for tomorrow, you hear?!" Ushio smirked while taking out a knife "Because if you do, then it's _really_ going to hurt… And I'll teach you what pain really is!"

"Looking forward to it," Atemu groaned as the brute walked away. He sighed and slumped against the school's wall. "Just great," he murmured while struggling to stand up. Without looking at Jonouchi and Honda - not really wanting to see their reaction to his pathetic attempt of protecting them - he started to stagger towards home, not exactly feeling like going back to school right now.

_How in hell am I going to get out of this_? He wondered to himself bitterly while making his way

-

Later in home, he went through all his savings only to found that he was pitiful short of the necessary two-hundred-thousand. But determined not to get depressed, he sat down and tried to think a way to get over this. He could tell something about it, but bullying like this in domino was so very common that he doubted there was anything the teachers could do - especially when most of them were as afraid of Ushio as the student's were.

As he pondered this problem, on their own his hands found the pieces of his Puzzle and started to try and complete it. Noticing it, he dropped the pieces with annoyance "What am I doing, I need to think about this…" he murmured and tried to get back to the topic at hand… yet his hand still found the Puzzle, and eventually he gave up. Maybe the Puzzle would calm him down enough for him to think it through.

"Wha - it fits," Atemu murmured with surprise as one Puzzle he had never been able to fit before snapped into place. Taking another he looked at it and then the Puzzle and as if on their own his eyes found the right spot. "If I put this here…" again it fit perfectly. Then another - it was as if his desperation was somehow making it easier. The pieces found their place with eerie ease, until…

"A pyramid?" Atemu asked quietly, looking at the thing he had managed to put together. There was still one piece missing, but the shape was unmistakable. If he would hang it from the strap, the Puzzle would be like upside down pyramid with an eye in it.

Swallowing at the idea of _finally_ completing the Puzzle, Atemu reached for the box for the final piece… only to have his fingertips hit against the bottom. The piece wasn't there! "Missing!" Atemu spoke out loud with disappointment. "The final piece is missing?!"

This led into frantic search around his room, through ever drawer and his closet, through the shelves and the boxes, not through the underneath of his bed but around the bedding… but it was nowhere to be found. "Not here!" he cried with anger and disappointment; even hit his fists against his table before managing to collect his calm.

"Okay, okay, calm down, it's just a puzzle, nothing to it," Atemu tried to tell himself before grimacing. "Damn it! I guess my wish won't come true after all."

Not much after he had given up both with the Puzzle and the case with Ushio, Sugoroku walked into his room to find his depressed form at the table. "Oh my, you managed to complete it!" the old man cried with surprise at the sight of the pyramid-shaped Puzzle.

"No… one piece is missing," Atemu murmured, not rising his eyes from his desk.

"Well, I'll be…" the old man murmured and glanced at him with a smile. "Atemu, you've trusted your secrets to this Puzzle for eight years now. Why are you giving up now?"

"Well… because one piece is missing?" Atemu asked half sarcastically but mostly just tiredly.

"Don't be like that. Your wish will come true," Sugoroku smiled encouragingly and held his first up… and when he opened, he had the final piece in his palm.

"You found it!" Atemu cried, not managing to contain the relief.

"Well, actually friend of yours did," the old man said as he handed the piece to him. "He just visited the store actually and asked me to give the piece to you. He was soaked through and through too, even though it hasn't been raining in days."

"Soaked?" Atemu asked with confusion while looking down to the Puzzle. _And a_ he _too, so it couldn't be Anzu…_ he thought to himself before holding the piece up. _Well, who ever it was, thank you very much. With this I'll finally complete the Puzzle,_ he smirked and threw the piece into the air before clasping it again with triumph.

"Well then, good night Atemu," Sugoroku said while leaving the room.

"Night grandpa," Atemu said back, before turning to the Puzzle. _Finally, after eight years_, Atemu thought with excitement turning his pulse erratic, and slowly pushed the piece into its place.

**- **

Ushio looked around in the school's yard with confusion. Atemu had called him there, in the middle of the night, and he wasn't entirely sure why. If it had been anyone else but Atemu, Ushio would've believed that they were going to handle this out of sight, just give him to money and be done with it… but it _was_ Atemu. And Atemu was tougher than that; he didn't give up that easily.

Well, no matter. He patted confidently his pocket where he had his knife. What ever the popular brat would have up his sleeve, he was sure he would be able to handle it. Because no matter how popular Atemu was, he was still a shrimp and everyone knew that it was dog's world out there - survival of the strongest.

Looking around to see if the brat himself had made it, Ushio noticed a movement jut behind him, and turned around. There, on sitting on the equipment left by the school's gymnastic team, was Atemu. Except it didn't exactly look like Atemu Ushio had beaten up earlier that day. No, this kid was shorter and somehow softer. He had strangely kind look upon his impossibly big eyes and there was a smile playing on his lips. However Atemu certainly hadn't dressed into leather before - and what were those weird things at his cuffs and that thing hanging from his neck? It looked like upside down pyramid…

"Good evening," Atemu greeted him with a bit wider smile, his hand gently cradling the golden pyramid thing, thump running over the strange eye insignia in it. "I was hoping you would show up…"

"Me? It's a surprise _you_ dared to come," Ushio sneered. "Came to be a good boy and give the money? That's good, that's good. What's with the get up, though?" When the kid didn't answer, he grinned. "Oh, well, whatever. Now, hurry up and give me my money. Two-hundred-thousand yen."

The kid smiled up to him almost kindly. "Oh, I have your money alright. I have it double," Atemu said while holding fistful of bills up before looking at them with a strange thankful look about his eyes. "Four-hundred-thousand yen…"

"Four-hundred-thousand!" Ushio smirked widely. Well if this kid wasn't in pleasing mood!

"How ever," Atemu said calmly while holding the money away from him. "This money is important to me - given by my grandpa you see… I don't think I can part with it that easily," he smiled, closing eyes and for a moment looking absolutely harmless despite the leather attire. "If you want them, you will have to prove your worth and _earn_ them."

"What?!" Ushio snapped.

"Oh, it won't be difficult. Just a little game, nothing special," Atemu smiled again before opening his eyes again, strange dark light living in the debts of their shadowy amethyst. "It's called Shadow Game; I promise it's very simple. If you win it, you'll get all of the money - four-hundred-thousand… how about it?" he ruffled the stack of bills invitingly. "Not bad huh?"

"Well no," Ushio smirked. Whatever this kid had in mind would be peace of a cake to crack, he was sure of it. There was no game which couldn't be won with physical strength.

"Good, good! Well then," Atemu's smile changed a little, now appearing satisfied. "For this game we shall need some equipment. You just happen to have one of them - that knife in your pocket… it will work well with this."

Smirking, the big guy pulled the knife out and slammed it onto the gym-horse Atemu had been sitting on before. The creepy kid placed the money beside it and declared that they had all they needed. Confused Ushio looked down. What kind of game could be played with a knife and stack of money?

"Let me explain the rules," Atemu said while placing the money over the back of his left hand. "In our turns we will place the money over our hands and take a shot at it with a knife. Whatever bills get stuck to the blade you can keep, however you need to get at least one. The game continues until there is no money left anymore and the one who gets more bills is the winner," he smiled now differently, teasingly. "However, if you disturb the game, you will lose and the loser loses all of the money. Well how about then, do you dare the play with me?"

"Heh, test of guts then," Ushio murmured while looking at the kid. Was this really Atemu?

"Also, I must warn you," Atemu added with almost gentle smile. "If you break the rules you will be judged by the Shadows and then we shall see if you're worthy…"

Not to one to be frightened like that, Ushio agreed to play. After they had decided the one who would go first with rock-paper-scissors, Atemu went first. With a smile he stabbed the bills upon his hand, but didn't catch many. "Oh," he murmured with a carefree smile. "And I thought I struck rather hard. These things are thicker than I thought… don't stick that easily." After plucking the bills off the blade, he handed the knife to Ushio. "Your turn."

Ushio placed the pills upon his hand and looked at them. Atemu hadn't managed to get that many of the bills, there was still great stack of them left… if he would hit hard he could get lot of them, but if he hit too hard he would plunge the knife right through his hand too…

"If you get too greedy," Atemu smiled kindly, his eyes sparkling with mischievousness, "you might hit your hand. So it's not really game about guts, more of self control…"

"I know, shut up!" Ushio growled and plunged the knife down. To his relief it didn't hit his hand, but it gathered quite bit of money into its blade. "Would you look at this! What a stack! And didn't even come near hitting my hand, I should've used more strength!"

Atemu smiled knowingly and took the blade. "My turn now," he said while placing the bills over the back of his palm. "As the game goes it becomes more difficult - as with each turn the stack grows thinner," he murmured before striking and taking the few yen bills which had stuck to the blade. Looking at the money remaining, he tilted his head to the side and smiled almost sweetly. "I think we only have the end of this game left now. Your turn, Ushio."

_Piece of cake, just like I thought_, the thug thought to himself with glee while looking at the remaining money. Atemu hadn't got that much of them, and there was still so many left. "These are so mine," he grinned victoriously, and was about to strike… when he noticed that his hand was shaking. Quiver of strength ran through his arm and he realised that he had tensed it too much and could hardly control it anymore - unwittingly he was about to plunge the knife down with all his strength, through the money and his hand!

Atemu smiled even more knowingly before, like he had been expecting it. "What shall you do, Ushio?" he asked softly. "Sacrifice your own hand to get the money?"

"Ha!" Ushio cried, getting an idea. "There is an _easy_ solution to this! I can strike with all my strength and get the money - and without injuring my hand too! There is a way to it," he grinned and turned the blade on Atemu. "It was a mistake, putting this knife in my hand, Atemu! Now die!"

Atemu _giggled_ and easily jumped away from the knife's way. Landing gracefully to his feet, he tilted his head back. "As I expected, you don't like to obey to the rules, don't you?" he asked looked at Ushio with that damn smile again. Suddenly something started to glow in his forehead, soon taking the form of a third eye. "Especially if these rules keep you away from money, hm?"

"E-eye? In your forehead?" Ushio asked with confusion.

"Only those who play _and lose_ a game against me can see it," Atemu said almost kindly. "Especially those who break the rules of the engagement. You have broken the rules and now we shall see if you're worthy…" the kind smile turned cold. "You harmed my friends, you tried to steal the money grandpa gave me. I should just out right punish you as the Laws of the Shadows say, yet I'm willing to give you a chance. And the Illusion of Greed would really be more of a blessing than punishment to you…"

Atemu reached his hand forward and pointed it at Ushio. "May the shadows teach you what you haven't seen yet. You greed for money in the expense of others and thus your lesson will be this. Poverty! From this day on money will turn into dirt and worms in your hand and those who are rich will turn poor in your eyes. You will see the decay and destruction of things you want the most…" the short teen's voice turned soft. "…and if you will not learn, _then_ you will be punished."

-

Rubbing his eyes, Atemu sighed. How _could've_ he fallen asleep right after completing the Puzzle? He hadn't thought of a way to get out of the whole feud with Ushio, he hadn't even had to chance to admire his work after the Puzzle had been completed; he had just… fallen asleep? Even though the fact that he had completed the Puzzle brought some comfort to him, he was a bit too worried to be all that happy for it.

Stifling a yawn, he looked around to see if Ushio was around. He knew this turn ugly - he didn't have the money Ushio wanted, after all. _Oh man, I'm going to get beaten up, am I?_ He thought to himself bitterly, still feeling the sting of the beating he had gotten last night. _This is just… great._

Touching the golden pyramid hanging from his neck, he tried to calm himself down. However he nearly ripped his hand off, feeling the Puzzle glow warmth underneath his hand. _What the…?_ he asked and took the thing into his hand, looking at it closely. Yes, it was warm in his hand… it felt almost reassuring.

"Atemu!" Someone called as the people who had been waiting for him outside the school noticed him. Before he could say anything he was surrounded by his classmates. "Have you seen him already? They say he has been acting strange all morning!" someone of them said, but there was bit too many of them for Atemu to know who was speaking.

"Who?" Atemu asked with confusion.

"Ushio! He has been acting strange, they say! All jumpy and, well…"

"I think something happened to him - you know, something tragic. Maybe a family member died or something similar. In any case, he's all heartbroken."

"Hey, there he is!" one of the girls pointed and everyone, Atemu included, turned to look towards where she was pointing. Ushio was standing near one of the many trees growing in the school ground. He was looking a thousand-yen bill which was resting in his hand. Atemu blinked at the look in his eyes - it looked half mournful and half disgusted. Then, to everyone's collective surprise, he crushed the bill in his hand and threw it away before heading towards the school, muttering something underneath his breath.

"Was that really Ushio?" people asked. "I wonder what happened to him to make him act like that."

Atemu wondered too - it was very much _not_ like Ushio to throw money away. How ever, if this meant that Ushio wouldn't be asking for money anymore… then it was a good thing. "We better head inside before we are late from class," he said, his words causing immediate reaction as everyone started to rush towards the school. Atemu himself followed in slower pace, still wondering what might've caused this change in the biggest bully of the entire school.

"Hmph," he smirked a little, resting his hand on the Puzzle again while he walked into the school after the others. "Coincidence maybe?" he muttered. "Except that I don't really believe in coincidences…"

"Yo, Atemu," voice interrupted his musings.

Looking up, Atemu saw Jonouchi leaning onto the wall near by. He certainly looked like he had gotten a beating; there were bruises and few band aids on his face. "Jonouchi," Atemu greeted neutrally, not really sure what the blonde wanted. In thug logic it was his fault that Jonouchi had gotten beaten in the first place, so maybe the blonde wanted to beat him up too?

"You okay? I mean… you did get beaten yesterday," Jonouchi said thoughtfully, looking down to him and raking his eyes over him as if looking for injuries.

"I'm fine," Atemu frowned slightly, now confused. Jonouchi… wasn't actually worried for him, was he? "Um… how about you?"

"It's nothing I can't handle - or anything I haven't felt before," the blonde assured, dismissing the subject. Atemu supposed that the blonde was right - being a thug like Jonouchi you couldn't really go about your things without getting beaten up once or twice. Dog's world and all. The blonde smirked amusedly. "You know, Atemu… I took a leaf from your book. Now I have a treasure too. Wanna see?"

"Ah… okay…?" Atemu asked without really getting it at all.

Jonouchi grinned. "Nah, I can't show it to you. This is a treasure of the same kind as yours - the kind you can see but really can't…"

"Erm…" Gad the blonde lost it?

"Friendship!" The blonde proudly proclaimed. "We can see each other, but you can't really see friendship."

Atemu couldn't help but laugh at that. "Okay then," he said and shook his head. "And you call me girly. You're really a big softie underneath, aren't you Jonouchi?" he smirked widely. "But alright, I'll be your friend when you put it that nicely," he said teasingly.

Jonouchi blushed. "Okay, well, we have class to go to, don't want to be late," he said quickly and made attempt at fleeing.

Atemu laughed after him heartily, especially at the sight of the blonde's shoe falling off and leaving behind. "Oi, you bit softie, you forgot your shoe!"

---

I'm not really sure if I'll continue this, this is just the result of a strange moment where I got the urge to know how it would be like if Atemu was the hikari instead of being yami. I might continue if the urge continues - and if people like this idea - but i'm not sure yet. sorry about the possible grammar errors and please let me know what you think.


	2. II chapter

**II chapter**

Atemu suppressed the need to roll his eyes as Jonouchi continued to talk beside him about some video with questionable material in it. As happy as he was about the blonde's friendship - Jonouchi's presence had this nice effect of driving the groupies away, maybe because the blonde had this habit of getting random bouts of useless violence - he really wasn't all that interested in same thing Jonouchi was. Porn videos were one of the things he really preferred not to think, but Jonouchi apparently hadn't noticed that yet.

"So, you've… actually seen this video?" he asked so that he would appear to be listening

"Yeah," Jonouchi nodded before narrowing his eyes as if trying to see something really small or really far away. "But you know, no matter how you look at it, how much you squint… you just can't see the best bits!" the blonde made rather dramatic gesture of heartbroken anger. "Damn that censorship!"

Atemu felt smile tugging on his lips. Thank god for the censorship, he really didn't want to talk about those _best bits_. It wasn't like he wasn't interested in sex and opposite gender - he just preferred to think other things right now. Like world hunger or political situation in Nepal.

"You know what, I think I'll loan the video to you!" Jonouchi suddenly said, looking delighted by the idea.

"Yeah, well, no thanks," Atemu grimaced. "I appreciate the gesture, I really do, but I can keep the video."

"What, you don't what to see it?" Jonouchi looked stricken. "Why not? It's a good video, I admit that the censoring is annoying, but otherwise it's just fine --"

Atemu gave into his urge and rolled his eyes. Then he quickly looked for something to change the subject with something else - and soon his eyes landed onto a jack pot. "Hey, look at that? Isn't that the logo of the TV-Station?" he asked, motioning at a car standing before their school's gate. "What would a TV-Station's car be doing here?"

Jonouchi turned to look at the car, and looked surprised for a moment before turning thoughtful. "Yeah… it's not like anything interesting ever happens in our school…"

Happy that the subject of questionable videos had been successfully changed, Atemu nudged on the blonde's side. "Maybe there's someone famous going in our school," he suggested teasingly. "Like idol or something."

"Well, that would be something," Jonouchi's features lit up with his grin. He turned to look at the car. "I wonder if they're in the car right now… Atemu, you take a look."

"What?" Atemu asked. "Why me?"

"You're the one who pointed the car out… so you go!" Jonouchi said cheerfully while less than gently pushing his shorted friend towards the car. With a curse, Atemu collided against the car, nearly slamming his face against it.

"Damn it, Jonouchi!" He yelled and whirled around to face the blonde. "It's not like you could see through mirror glass anyway, you idi - wait, come back here!" he cursed again as the blonde quickly fled towards the school. "I'm not done yet! Jonouchi!"

-

In the car, the director of the ZTV's _Survival Morning_ show smirked widely at the sight of the short, freaky haired boy running after the taller blonde. He was holding an instant camera in his hand, the picture he had taken already developed. "Just the kind of face I was looking for," he smirked ever wider and took the Polaroid to his hand. Yes. The kid looked like he was amongst the shortest of the entire school, and if the way the blonde pushed him around like that was any indication, the boy was probably bullied anyway. "Just perfect for our scoop!"

Laughing under his breath, the director waited until the school's bells rang and all the students hurried inside. "Alright, people, let's get a move on!" he called to his crew and stepped out of the car while the camera man, the extras and of course the host of the show stepped out. Soon they had everything set and the female host was standing before the camera, microphone in her hand and ready for filming.

As soon as he had given the mark, the filming started. "Good morning everyone," the host spoke in soft alluring voice like ordered. "It is the time for the Survival Morning again and today we have a dark story to tell to you. For this morning we managed to film true and cruel school bullying…"

"See that you film her looking sexy," the director ordered offhand, after all sex was the best way to make sells, sex and violence.

Soon the opening was filmed, making the director justly satisfied with the speed of his crew. "Well, that's a wrap. Next we'll be filming the bullying sequence, so we won't be needing anchor anymore." As the anchor and the extras started to gather their things, the director turned to the assistant director. "You, come over here."

"Yes, sir?" the assistant asked, walking forward.

"This guy… he's this school's student. I want you to find him and bring him here," the director told while handing him the Polaroid.

The assistant director took the picture and smirked at it. "What a shrimp, probably bullied all the time," he agreed.

"A suitable _actor_ for this," the director nodded with a grin. "That little wimp fits our scoop of school bullying perfectly. The viewers will want documental, realistic violence, that's what takes the ratings to the roof!"

"But…" the assistant looked up hesitatingly. "Will we really manage to catch bullying to the tape?"

"You don't get it, do you?" the director asked with flat look on his face. "How long have you been working for me?"

"Um… half a year?"

Half a year and the guy still didn't know the works? The director rolled his eyes and smirked crookedly. "Well then, it's time you learn. You go and get yourself a fitting school uniform!"

"What, school uniform?" the assistant looked thoroughly baffled.

"Yes," the director smirked. "You will get to play the part of the bully, right in front of the camera!"

-

"Girl celebrity?" Anzu asked with surprise while Atemu was trying to figure out just when Jonouchi decided that the famous person had to be a girl. Somewhere between the entrance of the school and the classroom, probably.

"Yeah!" the blonde grinned while taking seat on his desk. "There was a TV-station car in the front of the school, and if that's not proof enough then I don't know what is! Right Atemu?"

Atemu sighed. "There was a car, but…"

"Yes, I saw the car too," Anzu said, looking disbelieving. "But I haven't heard anything about any celebrity, girl of otherwise…"

"Well, duh! She's of course going to school in secret!" Jonouchi said with a knowing smirk. "Even though she's even bigger star than Hamasaki Ayumi…"

_This thing is getting wilder with each time Jonouchi thinks about it_, Atemu thought with a sigh. "Jonouchi, I think you're going a bit too far…" but the blonde wasn't listening, he was laughing diabolically to himself while saying something about taking a picture and selling it for big money.

"That's illegal," Anzu said with grimace. "And despite what your useless brain is trying to make up, there is no celebrities in here!" and the fight was on. Atemu chuckled at the sight of the two going at it. It had never been actually rare sight, but ever since Atemu and Jonouchi had begun to hang out together, Anzu and Jonouchi had begun to have… disagreements like this nearly daily.

While looking at their fight with amusement, Atemu wondered to himself about the station's car and what ever it might've been there for.

-

The assistant director showed the Polaroid picture to a student passing him by, and asked if the boy knew the person in the picture. "Yeah, I know that guy. He's Atemu Mutô, from class B," the student answered, motioning down the hall. "He should be around there."

"Thanks," the assistant nodded and continued his way. He was trying his hardest to hide his discomfort. He had just stolen some poor kid's uniform from the locker room and was about to beat up some other poor kid in front of rolling cameras. And if he didn't, the director would fire him. It certainly wasn't what he had expected when he had gotten the job. I guest they had been right when they had said that it was hard job, being the assistant director.

"Well then, Atemu!" blonde student walking towards him with a shorted spiky haired kid in tow said. "Let's go and find that celebrity!"

Alerted by the words, the assistant stopped just as the spiky haired boy sighed. "Jonouchi, I really don't think… what if the car was there for some other reason?" he asked with a flat look about his face. The assistant's lips curled into a smile. _Found him_!

"Aww, not you too, Atem'," the blonde moaned with a disappointed look. "You should be more optimistic! And I was counting on you too… well then; I'll look for her alone. I'll see you later." The spiky haired kid just sighed again as he left and shook his head with amused annoyance.

Seeing that his chance had come, the assistant stepped forward. "Hey, Atemu."

The spiky haired short kid turned his nearly crimson shaded eyes to him and raised an eyebrow. "Hi," he answered mildly as if not entirely surprised and even less interested. "And you are…?"

"My name is Fushida," the assistant lied and smirked. "Yeah, and I know about the celebrity," he said suggestively. "You want to too, right."

Atemu blinked slowly as if trying to figure him out. "So there really is a celebrity here?" he asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah" the assistant nodded. "And you know, I know her rather well - been friends with her since we were kids… maybe I can arrange a meeting between you and her."

Atemu looked at him with a flat expression before rolling his eyes. "Not interested," he then said and turned to leave, muttering something about groupies.

_Well, didn't see that coming_, the assistant though with surprise. _I guess Atemu isn't as much of a fool as I thought._ "Don't be like that," he quickly said and stepped after the spiky haired kid. "She, well she hasn't said it out loud, but she really likes you and… well, she's a bit shy…"

"Well that's her problem isn't it?" Atemu asked flatly, now looking slightly annoyed. "If she can't even get the courage to ask me herself…"

"She-she meant to, but I promised to ask for her," the assistant rushed to say. _This kid really doesn't act like bullied kids should…_ "She's a good friend of mine, you know, I couldn't just let her to it on her own. World's filled all kind of nasty types these days, and I had to make sure that you were a nice guy."

"Aha," the spiky haired boy said even more flatly. "Well, tell her that I'm not interested," he said and was about to walk off again.

_Shit! If I don't get him to come, I'll loose my job!_ The assistant rushed forward again. "Just one little meeting, five minutes tops! She won't believe me if I tell her that you're not interested! Please, tell her yourself and…"

Atemu sighed heavily. "You're not going to leave me alone, are you?" he asked with annoyance. "Fine, I'll meet her, but it will be _brief_, very brief. And after that she and you will both leave me alone, alright?"

"Okay, thank you very much!" the assistant sighed with honest relief. "Just come behind the gym in recess, alright?"

"Fine," Atemu said and levelled him with annoyed look. "Now could you move? You're blocking the corridor," he said, and after the assistant had moved he left without saying anything else. The assistant looked after him and smirked. At least the annoyingly distrusting kid would get what he deserved.

-

When the break finally came, the assistant director was waiting in the yard behind the gym while the director and the cameraman were hiding in the bushes near by. "He's really coming right?" the director was growling at him. "He's late!"

"He'll come," the assistant assured quickly and scanned the yard with his eyes with hint of worry in his eyes. He didn't see the kid - or anyone else for that matter - around and it was making him worry. Atemu had been distrusting as he was, what if the kid had lied and wasn't about to come at all? _Come on, Atemu. If you won't I'll get fired._

Then, finally, he could see the spiky haired boy walking from behind the building. While the director ordered the cameraman to work, Atemu's bored eyes looked through the yard before landing on the assistant. "Why am I not surprised?" the boy murmured while walking towards the assistant. The kid folded his eyes. "Let me guess, she's really, _really_ shy?" he asked with annoyance. "Too shy to exist, hm?"

"Well, you see," the assistant whispered as if talking about secrets. The kid's suspicion was really starting to bug him! "Come closer and --" as Atemu stepped forward with frown, the assistant interrupted his own words by laying one well deserved bunch right to the boy's chin. The sight of Atemu's eyes widening first with surprise and then clamming shut in pain was certainly gratifying.

"Wohoo! Harder!" the director cried from the bushes. "Hit him harder!"

"You idiot," the assistant laughed, wishing that it was the director in the place of Atemu. "There are no celebrities here!" he taunted while pulling his hand back and lying another blow to the boy's face before Atemu could try to protect himself. Surprisingly enough the kid wasn't making any sounds, just grinding his teeth together and biting the sounds back. Well, no matter. They could edit all the sounds they wanted into the tape later.

"Hey, what do you think you're doing? Hand's off him!" yell stopped the assistant before he could pull his hand back again. Looking over his shoulder he could see the blonde kid Atemu had been with before. "Atemu!" the kid cried while pushing the assistant aside. "Atemu, are you alright?" turning to the assistant, the blonde grimaced with rage. "You don't hit my buddy and get away with it! I'll kill you, you damn bastard!"

"No, no, wait!" the assistant cried in fear as the blonde pulled his fist back. "I-I didn't want to do it, b-but the director…!"

"Director?" the blonde asked and turned to see the director of the _Survival Morning_ stepping out of the bushes.

"Alright, we're all set. Assistant director, you can go," the director said, causing the blonde to drop the assistant. The assistant was quick to make his escape.

"You! You put Atemu through this… Director, yeah right!" the blonde hissed before turning to Atemu. "Oi, Atemu? Are you okay?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Atemu grunted and looked at the blonde. "Thanks Jonouchi. I owe you one."

"Don't mention it, pal."

"Okay, cut the tape," the director said to the cameraman, bored with what he was seeing. "Waste of tape this kind of insipid drama," he turned to Jonouchi and Atemu. "Yeah, I admit that Atemu had bad luck to get picked up like this… but things happen, you can't always choose what the number you roll from the dice," he said while scratching his ear, as if not really interested at all. "But the show will be mind-blowing! The viewers will feel strong sympathy towards you, Atemu! You'll be the hero of our show!"

"Yeah, that makes me feel _so_ much better," Atemu hissed, rubbing his aching chin.

"You bastard," Jonouchi growled at the director. "People like you don't even deserve to live!" he cried and rushed to punch the man.

"Heh, go ahead, hit me," the man urged. "And everything you do will go to the tape," he motioned at the cameraman who was again filming. When the kid froze in shock, he motioned the cameraman to stop again, and swiftly kicked the teen to the stomach. He smirked at the sound the boy made and the way he slumped down while the spiky haired kid watched in horror.

"Jonouchi!" Atemu cried and rushed to the blonde while the Director stepped back.

"Can you understand it now?" the director asked with a wide smirk. "The power of the media? My power! With what I have taped I can show you to the entire world - and make you look like anything from heroes to villains!" with that said, he turned around and headed away with a laugh. "But don't worry," he said as his goodbye. "We'll censor your face so that no one can tell it's you…"

-

Jonouchi groaned, still feeling like his stomach had been turned upside down by a blender. Brushing his hand over his now rather achy stomach, he looked up to see if Atemu was alright. While Atemu could be the toughest _mind_ in the school, he wasn't that tough _physically_ and as he was most definitely the skinniest boy in the school it was just to worry about him after a beating.

But, to the blonde's surprise, his friend wasn't in the ground. Instead the spiky haired teen was standing near by, looking after where the director-guy had went. Except… it didn't look or feel like Atemu. Atemu had a certain way of standing, and he usually had this near-frown on his face which gave him endless look of seriousness. This boy stood differently, more casually and there was no frown on his face. Instead there was look of strange resigned sadness.

"Atemu?" Jonouchi asked with confusion, alerting the boy of his consciousness. As the Atemu-look-alike turned his eyes to him, Jonouchi knew for certain that it wasn't Atemu. His eyes, his hair… though there was a hint of dark steel in those luminous amethyst eyes, they were softer, mellower. "You're not Atemu," Jonouchi said with a frown. Yet it was.

"No, not exactly," the kid smiled sweetly and kneeled beside him. "Are you alright, Jonouchi? Do you need to go to the nurse's office?"

"I'm… fine," the blonde blinked with confusion. The kid had Atemu's Puzzle, and the strange lather shirt Atemu had started wearing since he had completed the puzzle… yet strange cufflinks were something Jonouchi hadn't seen on Atemu. "Where is Atemu?"

The kid smiled. "Atemu is alright, there is no need to worry for him," he stood up again and held his hand to Jonouchi to pull him up.

"Where is he?" Jonouchi frowned a little even while taking the hand. The kid was surprisingly strong, pulling the taller blonde up with ease. "And how come you have his puzzle? Who are you anyway?"

The kid chuckled warmly. "Atemu is lucky to have friend like you," he said with a somehow respective nod, though his eyes were somehow sad. Jonouchi frowned with confusion as the kid touched the golden Puzzle. "That's what he wished for, for a friend, when he completed the Millennium Puzzle. The Puzzle doesn't have the power to grand wishes and for that I am sorry, but… as you befriended with him, I guess some of its power may be for good…"

"Who are you…?" Jonouchi asked again, now with worried frown. "How do you know about Atemu's wishes? And what powers are you talking about?"

The kid shook his head with a smile. "I can't remember my name. All I know is what Atemu knows," he said and turned to look towards the direction where the director and his crew went. "And the millennium Puzzle has certain powers which I can wield - powers I should be wielding right now." His eyes turned saddened. "Another person who trespassed upon Atemu's soul… As much as I dislike it… I must to judge them."

"What?" Jonouchi blinked rabidly, looking at him with confusion.

"Never mind," the kid smiled sheepishly, sadly. "It's my burden, no one else's. And I must be off now. You will see Atemu again tomorrow, so there is no need to worry." With that he started to walk towards where the director had gone.

"H-hey, wait! I'm not done here! What do you mean another person, and how exactly are you going to judge that guy?" Jonouchi hurried after him. "And don't think I'm going to let you walk off like that with Atemu's Puzzle, it's his treasure!"

The kid smiled. "Ushio was the first person I judged and I will judge the director in same manner as I judged him. With a Shadow Game," he giggled a little. "And I really am not taking Atemu's puzzle from him, after all… Atemu has his on him right now."

"What?" the blonde asked with confusion.

"Atemu is right here," the kid smiled gently while patting his chest. "He is asleep right now, unaware of what is happening."

Jonouchi stopped in middle of a step, causing the short non-Atemu to stop as well. While the amethyst eyes look-alike looked at him with gentle worry and confusion, Jonouchi processed what he had been just told. "So, you're… that's… wait. If Atemu is sleeping in side you, what that makes you?" the blonde asked with suspicion. "Spirit possessing him?"

The shorter, and by the looks of it softer version of Atemu smiled sadly. "Atemu completed the Puzzle and freed me," he said gently. "While I can understand from his memories that your kind do not take possession such as this kindly… there is nothing _I_ can do. _I_ have no choice. It is my nature to protect him, my nature and my duty - in fact it's all I'm good for."

"Does this mean every time Atemu is in danger - like getting beaten up - you pop up and protect him? I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, kid, but you don't exactly look like you could protect anyone," Jonouchi said flatly. "Sure, Atemu's short and skinny and all that, but you're even shorter and skinnier than he is!"

The kid giggled. "Maybe, but sometimes looks can be deceiving," he nodded his head a bit. "I'm sorry, but I need to get going now."

"To judge that director?" Jonouchi asked.

"Yes."

"Can I come with you? I think I need to see it for myself before I can believe that shrimp like you could protect anyone."

The short non-Atemu looked at him thoughtfully for a moment before nodding. "Very well."

-

Jonouchi leaned onto a concrete pillar of a parking hall underneath the ZTV-station building. The spirit inhabiting Atemu's body had told him to stay out of sight and out of way, unless he wanted to get hurt. The blonde didn't really like the implications of that, but decided, for now, to do as asked.

The spirit himself was waiting not much further from him strange look in his eyes, which had been so warm before. Whilst it was still difficult for Jonouchi to believe that this little guy could be some kind of spirit of vengeance, he had to admit that there was this strange aura of… knowledge around him. Like he knew world from angle Jonouchi would never look at it, that he knew world so well from that angle that it sometimes hurt him.

Sound of door opening and closing alerted him of people arriving to the hall. Taking his eyes away from the petite spirit, he searched for the source of the sound. His expressions darkened at the sight of the so called director who was waking towards pair of cars with a man who was dressed into a fancy suit. They were talking about ratings.

"I think the reactions to the show this time will be good," the suited man was saying. "You managed to make another great scoop, director."

"It's like with fishing, you have to just know what kind of bait the fishes will take," the director smirked and waved at the other man. "Night."

"I will see you tomorrow," the suited man answered before taking seat in his car. As soon as the car had driven away, the spirit of the Puzzle stepped forwards.

"Maybe next time I'll have someone killed before the camera, that would make some _killer_ ratings," the director was mumbling much to Jonouchi's horror and disgust. But the look on Atemu's face, the spirit didn't seem too delighted by the word's either

Just then the director noticed the spirit through the side mirror of his car, and whirled around sharply. The spirit smiled in surprisingly kind way despite the fact that his eyes were nearly flaming. "I've been expecting you," he said to the director.

"Wha -? Ah, you're that brat Atemu. What do you want, payment, huh?" the director asked with grimace. "You're not the first one to be coming here, demanding things, and you will not be he first time I tell no to, either."

"Payment, me?" the spirit giggled. "Oh no. I don't require anything from you, but you… are about to receive something from me," Jonouchi stepped back as the spirit's eyes hardened, and the smile turned mischievous. "You have transgressed upon my soul and therefore you will be judged. But now…" the expressive smile turned soft and almost gentle, "…let's play a _game_…"

"A game?" The director asked with half annoyance and half confusion while Jonouchi looked at the shorter version of Atemu with curiosity.

"The game I have in mind is simple - it will hardly take few minutes," the spirit promised while taking out a dice. "And this is what we shall use - a dice. I suppose you're familiar with this - already ancient Egyptians left their fates to the dice…" he smiled teasingly. "Now, allow me to explain the rules. You win if you get number smaller than mine and you will win also if you get the same number. That isn't too complicated isn't it?"

Again the expressive smile shifted, into even more gentler form. "But if you lose… then you will be judged in the court of Shadows."

"I am really not interested in your games," the director snapped.

"That's too bad, because the game begins now," the sprit smiled and rolled the dice. While the director started to turn away to leave, he couldn't risk the temptation of looking at the dice as it clattered over the concrete floor. Jonouchi craned his neck to see what number the spirit rolled, and to his horror it was…

"Six!" the director laughed. "Haha, six! I will win no matter what I will roll! It would be meaningless to even bother!"

"Luck does seem to be on your side," the spirit allowed with a knowing smile. "But the game continues and you ill have to roll or you forfeit the game."

"Well, aren't you one damn headstrong brat," the director muttered while picking the dice from the floor. "Very well, I shall do as you ask! Here, you can have this," the man threw the dice at the spirit with great strength, "right to your face!"

Jonouchi winced at the sound of the dice impacting before it clattered to the floor. It landed on the side which was shaped like the eye in the Millennium Puzzle, one. "Hah! One," the director laughed while starting to make his way away. "I win. And it's about the time you get out of here."

"Oh no," the spirit spoke with soft voice. "Now it's the time of your judgement."

"What?!" the director cried and Jonouchi leaned forward to look down. The dice… had cracked from the middle; it had one _and_ six up! "The di… dice broke!" the Director gasped. "Seven!"

Jonouchi wasn't looking at the dice anymore, though. He was staring at the spirit inhabiting Atemu's body. There was something glowing in the petite spirit's forehead, and he was pointing accusingly at the Director. "Judgement of Shadows!" the non-Atemu cried, his voice commanding but sad. "The shadows would have me punish you, curse you and strike you blind for what you have done, but what would you learn then? No, you would learn nothing."

"I will give you a chance of atonement," the spirit said almost gently. "Your eyes are greedy and you look to see things which are none of your business. But you do not listen to pleas of those who beg you to be honest, beg you to stop. Therefore you will _hear_; all of those pleas and the criticism you have until now ignored, spoken or thought, whispered or written, all the pain and anguish you have cause, you will hear it all." The spirit smiled sadly. "And if you will not learn, if you will not listen… _then_ you will be punished."

Jonouchi watched with fascinated as the director first looked like he was about to laugh at the spirit. But then the man turned his head as if he had heard something. Then he turned it to another direction. "Wh-wha, who's speaking?" the man asked, before turning horrified and clamping his hands over his ears. "No, shut up, the scoop was great, it was brilliant! Shut up, you don't know anything!"

"That would be the people who watched the show," the spirit smiled sadly as the director fell to his knees, muttering incoherently. "You twisted the truth to your liking to make it seem like something more exciting - but it isn't exciting, it's horrible, and it's time you faced the horrible truth of it."

Jonouchi stepped back unwittingly when the spirit turned to him. "Do you believe I can protect Atemu now?" the spirit asked gently.

"You can," Jonouchi was forced to admit. "But what gives you the right?"

"Nothing does," the spirit said while walking towards him. "Magic is like that. I was given this duty, by whom I don't know, but it's mine and I'm going to perform to the best of my ability," he looked up to the blonde sadly. "But if Atemu doesn't wish me to, then all he has to do is to break the puzzle and I will intrude your lives no more."

"And what happens to you if he breaks the puzzle?" Jonouchi asked slowly.

"I will go back to where I came from," the spirit shrugged and stared to walk towards the exit. "Now you must excuse me, but Atemu's body requires rest. I must take it to the Game Shop."

"Wait, I'll walk you there," Jonouchi said, saving one look at the suffering director before following the short spirit. "By _where you came from_ you mean the Puzzle, right?" he asked. "You've been there before Atemu released you? What was that alike?"

The spirit looked at him thoughtfully. "That depends on perspective, I guess. I didn't know I was imprisoned in it until Atemu woke me up, so I can't really tell what it was like before, but after it has been… better, I guess. All I remember from the time of before is the emptiness and the coldness and after Atemu released me my world has been warm and filled. I like it that way, but it is not my choice to make, if Atemu doesn't wish me to be here, then I will go."

"And that… really is Atemu's choice to make?" Jonouchi asked, remembering something along the lines _'I think, therefore I am'_ from their philosophy class.

"He gave this freedom to me. It is in his right to take it away," the spirit smiled sadly.

-

In the next morning, Atemu was walking towards the school with a slight frown in his face. He couldn't remember anything after that whole incident behind the gym, but somehow he had still ended up in his room last night - and according to Sugoroku, no one had brought him in either. No matter how he tried to twist his mind to get suitable answer, all he could come up with was blackout. But then he couldn't really find a reason for it - that hadn't hit him that hard or he would still be feeling the pain.

"Oi, Atemu!" familiar voice called him, and he turned to see Jonouchi jogging towards him. Stopping in front of him, the blond regarded him for a while, looking him from top to bottom. "You okay?"

"Um, yeah...? Shouldn't I be?" Atemu asked with a frown, not liking the worried look on his friend's face at all.

"Well, uhm…" Jonouchi scratched the back of his head before looking around to see that Atemu's usual groupies were looking at them strangely. Taking hold of Atemu's hand, the blonde turned towards the school. "Come with me," he said and started to tug the other boy along. Confused and curious in the same time, Atemu just followed, wanting to find out what was going on.

"Okay, so, what's going on?" Atemu asked when they had found empty classroom and locked the door. "And why did you have to drag me he--"

"Atemu, man, you've been possessed," Jonouchi blurted out.

Stopping in mid word, Atemu looked at the other teen for a while, before coughing to gather his wits about him. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"You. Have. Been. Possessed," Jonouchi repeated slowly and pointed at the Puzzle. "By this freaky kid-spirit who's living in that thing. According to him when you completed the Puzzle you released him and now he kinda possesses you when ever you're in danger."

"A…ha?" Atemu asked slowly. "And you… talked to this spirit?"

"Yeah, yesterday. He possessed you right after that… that _director_ beat you up. He told me that you were sleeping when he's in control, and that the Puzzle has these freaky shadow powers and that it's his duty to protect you, which seemed kinda strange because he's even _shorter_ than you are, not to mention kinda nicer - though I don't mean that you're mean or anything, he just is kinda gentle and smiling all the time - and well, erm… anyway, he told me that he needed to _judge_ that so called director because he hurt you, so I tagged along to see what he would do, and it was amazing, and kinda creepy, and --"

"Jonouchi!" Atemu snapped to make the taller teen stop rambling. "Slower, if you would. And from the beginning."

Taking a breath to calm himself down, Jonouchi explained what had happened yesterday after Atemu had blacked out. He told about the petite spirit and how they had gone to the ZTV-building, where the spirit had first challenged the director into a dice game - which he had won due to the fact that the director had managed to break the dice in two.

"After that he kind of judged the director-guy, said that the man would hear everything he has so far tried not to hear- you know, criticism, pleas, that kinda thing," Jonouchi scratched the back of his head. "After that we left. Though he did say that if you want to get rid of him, you need to just break the puzzle... though that will send _him_ back into the puzzle and into imprisonment."

"Imprisonment?" Atemu repeated with surprise.

"Yeah, I guess he would be trapped there," the blonde shrugged. "Not that I understood much of it, but he didn't really seem to like it. Said that he prefers things as they are now that you've completed the puzzle."

Atemu frowned a little and touched the puzzle hanging from his neck. "Grandpa said that whoever would solve the Puzzle would become the judge of the evil - the successor of the _Shadow Games_…" he muttered

"Hey, he said that too," Jonouchi frowned, trying to remember. "Yeah. He said that he would judge the director in same manner he judged Ushio - with a Shadow Game."

"Ushio?" Atemu snapped his eyes to the blonde.

"Don't ask me, he didn't tell me more about that - I kinda forgot to ask entirely."

Atemu frowned a little and trailed his fingertips over the eye insignia of the puzzle. To his surprise he felt the puzzle warm up in his hands, and then a strange… sadness seep through from it. "I… I think I can feel him," the teen spoke in shock and grasped the puzzle in between his palms. Trying to reach for the feeling he got from the puzzle, he felt returning surprise before the feeling turned into sad acceptance. "He… he's sad about something. Accepting but sad," Atemu spoke with awe and confusion.

"He thinks you're going to break the Puzzle," Jonouchi snapped his fingers. "That was the last thing we talked about - and he was sad about it, resigned but sad."

Grasping a bit stronger hold of the puzzle, Atemu frowned. There was a spirit in the puzzle who could posses him… what on earth would he do about it? Just casting the spirit back to the puzzle didn't seem right, yet… he knew nothing of the spirit. Who knew what he was like, or what he would do! Especially if he knew magic or something of the sort…

Jonouchi coughed. "I… I think we need to head to class," he said carefully. Atemu looked up and was immensely grateful for the distraction. Nodding, the spiky haired teen followed his friend out of the classroom, and promised that he would think about it all after school.

---

And there we have _actual_ second chapter, the other piece has been now added to the end of the first chapter. and for some reason, I have nothing to say about this chapter. Sorry about possible grammar errors and all, and thank you very much for your reviews


	3. III chapter

**III chapter**

Atemu stifled another sigh while looking at the busy street before him. It seemed like ever since he had found out about the spirit of the puzzle, he had been continuously sighing. Whether he was feeling helpless or trying to release some tension with the sighing, he wasn't sure, but he wanted to sigh again just to get the breath out of his chest.

The puzzle was still around his neck. Every time he took it off, he felt a wave of submissive sadness come from the puzzle, and no matter how he tried to tell himself that this was his life and the spirit had no right intruding, he felt horrible. The spirit thought that he was still going to break the puzzle, and he couldn't exactly tell him otherwise because communication between the two of them wasn't the best possible - at best they could send mixed emotions to each other but that was pretty much all.

Raising his hand to touch the puzzle, Atemu wondered why they couldn't talk - or if they ever could. Why, if the spirit could _posses_ his body, he couldn't reach to him with words instead of emotions? Was the spirit holding out on him or was there something else going on?

As the bus finally came and pulled to an halt before him Atemu shook the thought out of his mind and stepped into the vehicle along with many, many others. Trying to look for a place to comfortably stand as there were no places to sit, he noticed the sight of his school's uniform. It was the kid shortest after him from his class. "Oh, Hanasaki," Atemu said. "Good morning,"

The other teen glanced at him before turning his face away again. Atemu blinked with confusion before shrugging. Hanasaki was one of those few people who hadn't belonged in the group of sycophants. It was a good thing, but maybe the other teen didn't like him at all. Hanasaki was one of those people who kind of faded to the back ground and Atemu hadn't ever really talked to the other teen. "Oh well," Atemu murmured and turned his eyes away.

Suddenly, while the driver called for apologies through the speaker, the bus pulled breaks sharply, causing Atemu to fall off balance. To his surprise, he didn't collide with anyone because the back of the buss was all empty. After gaining his balance, he looked around with confusion - before hearing a horrible beat.

There was someone sitting in the back with their eyes closed, listening to the so-called-music. _Ah, Souzouji,_ Atemu grimaced at the sight of the C-class student who had nearly as bad reputation as Ushio - if not worse. It was no wonder there was no one else in the back - in fact, Atemu himself made quickly for the front, not wanting to stay in the same space as Souzouji and his horrible music.

"Oi, Atemu, wait a little bit," Souzouji suddenly opened his eyes, causing Atemu to very nearly freeze in mid-step. "Come and sit here, there's plenty of room here," the tall, pointy haired teen said while patting the seat beside him. "And I actually have something to speak with you."

"Ah… really?" Atemu asked with a wince, shiver dread climbing up his spine.

"I have decided to again organise the traditional all-night solo performance!" Souzouji announced. "I suppose you too wish to come to listen to my handsome voice."

"Erm…" Atemu tried to hide how very against he was the idea. He had had the horror of listening to the first performance Souzouji had had - the groupies had thought that it would be a brilliant idea to go and watch. Nobody back then had known what Souzouji's preferred music was like - or what kind of voice he had. The all-night solo performance of horror happened once a month - Souzouji would gather enough audience and then sing all the way to the morning. And not only was it horrible to listen, but you had to pay for the tickets.

"I know!" Souzouji cried while Atemu was trying to make up a suitable way of saying _no way in hell._ "You can help me! You can sell the tickets for me!" he held up a stack of tickets.

"What?" Atemu asked half flatly half shocked.

"Two-thousand yen a piece. That's cheap considering how beautiful my voice is!" Souzouji said, holding the tickets near Atemu's face. "You need to call six girls and four boys' you got it?

"Souzouji, I really don't think," Atemu tried to say.

"There's three days left," Souzouji interrupted, crackling his knuckles menacingly. "And you do know what happens to you if you can't sell the tickets…?"

Atemu swallowed and looked at the tickets. _I really don't want to get into these kind of things_, he thought desperately. _It will be cruel to ask anyone to actually pay for these tickets and go to listened to Souzouji's noise… wait_… on it's on his hand travelled to the puzzle hanging from his neck. _Can't you do anything_? He tried to send the thought to the puzzle. _Isn't it your job to keep me from harm's way_?

The answer came as jumbled emotions. First there was worry and sternness before the presence of the Puzzle reached for him… only to pull back with something that felt like berating. Atemu got the feeling that the spirit of the Puzzle wasn't entirely happy to be asked to deal with something like this - as Atemu wasn't danger _yet_ the spirit wasn't going to do anything _yet_. After that he got a strange sort of chart of emotions. Danger leads to protection, nothing else.

Atemu sighed. _Fine,_ he thought sullenly and looked at the tickets. He sighed and pushed the tickets to his pocket before stepping back from smirking Souzouji. _I guess it's wrong of me to try and rely on you with things like this. You protect me from harm, not from displeasure…_

His answer was sad apology before the spirit sent him another fumbled packet of emotions which he took a moment of deciphering. Worry and un-worthiness, weakness and relish, waiting… for something, but not yet. _You're worried because of me, but you fell unworthy, weak… you're trying to savour something while waiting… but not yet_? Atemu asked with confusion.

Partial agreement and partial negation was his answer. Then he felt missing, lacking of something… and strength. _You lack strength? You're not strong enough?_ Atemu asked and felt agreement. _So, you're not strong enough yet to handle every thing that comes my way, and you have to wait, savour your strength for the bigger things? That makes sense. Is that why we can't really talk to each other yet?_ Agreement and agreement. _I guess we have to wait then…_ Relief and gratified agreement.

Soon the bus care to the school, and Atemu along with the other students filed out of the bus. Keeping his distance to Souzouji for now, Atemu made his way inside and towards the classroom of the B-class. As soon as he got there, he was greeted by cheery Jonouchi.

"Ah, morning Jonouchi." Atemu answered while taking his seat.

"What a flat greeting," Jonouchi blinked. "Are you alright, is everything alright? Is it the Puzzle?"

"I'm fine," Atemu answered and touched the Puzzle. "And the spirit's fine as well - gathering his strength to be able to surface again, but fine. And before you ask me, no, I'm not going to break the puzzle. At least not until I get to know the spirit."

"Okay then," Jonouchi nodded with satisfaction. "You know, Atemu… I've been looking around, investigating the subject, and I don't think that there are any celebrities here."

"You're still thinking about that?" Atemu asked with disbelief.

"Therefore," the blonde continued as if he hadn't heard him. "I'm going to become the celebrity myself!"

Sighing, Atemu didn't even bother to answer, smiling a little at his friend's antics. Jonouchi took his silence as a bad sign, though. "You really okay then?" he asked worriedly. "If something is wrong, you know that you can tell me! Speaking helps, you know."

Atemu smiled and chuckled. "You big softie," he said while reaching to pinch Jonouchi's cheek to get the worried look away from his friend's face. "I'm just fine, there's nothing to worry about."

"Ack! Atemu!" Jonouchi cried, rubbing his cheek while looking outraged. "You pinched me! You _pinched_ me!"

"Yes, I did because you're acting like a softie" Atemu chuckled and leaned his chin to his palm while Jonouchi moved to prove him wrong by something stupid and very un-sensitive - like peak underneath Anzu's skirt with Honda. While Anzu chased the two boys across the classroom with all the intention of beating them blue, Atemu smiled amusedly.

_I can't ask them to go to Souzouji's so-called concert,_ he thought with a worried frown. _I won't force them to go trough that…_ glancing at the other students, he pursed his lips thoughtfully. _I could sell the tickets to my sycophants, but it wouldn't be right either…_

With a sigh he touched the puzzle gently. _Souzouji will beat me up if I don't sell the tickets, you know…_ he thought to the spirit. _But you won't allow it, will you?_ Furious negation was his answer which caused him to smile gently. He still couldn't understand _why_ the spirit was protecting him, but he still felt thankful for it.

By the end of the day, Atemu hadn't still sold a single ticket. He didn't feel too worried about it though, preferring not to think about it. How ever, as he was making his way out of the school so that he could head to the bus-stop, he was called by someone. "Excuse me, Atemu…"

Turning around, Atemu saw the same boy he had greeted in the bus, who hadn't greeted him back. "Oh, Hanasaki. Hello. Is there something I can do for you?"

Hanasaki looked at him with half worried and half hopeful look while holding up a ticket "You… you wouldn't buy a ticket from me?" he asked carefully.

Atemu sighed heavily. _Souzouji got Hanasaki too…_ he thought sadly while Hanasaki explained about Souzouji as if Atemu didn't know him. "I have five of these," the shy teen said. "I haven't sold a single one… you would help me a bunch if you would buy one…"

Atemu sighed and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah, I know Souzouji," he said with heavy voice. Unlike Atemu, Hanasaki didn't have spirit protecting him, so Hanasaki was more desperate to get the tickets sold than Atemu was. "How about you just give me those tickets and I'll try to sell them, hm?" he asked. "That way you're off the hook."

"Really?" the other teen looked shocked.

"Yeah, you don't really look that excited about going so I might as well take the tickets," Atemu shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

"T-thanks a lot, Atemu!" Hanasaki said while giving the tickets. Atemu just smiled and nodded before making his way out. He could handle this by himself, it wasn't right for Hanasaki to suffer. In the end it didn't matter if he had ten or fifteen tickets, he wasn't going to sell them.

_Maybe I still could go…_ he thought to himself with a smirk. _If I'll show the spirit what kind of person Souzouji really is… maybe the spirit will put an end to those horrible solo-performances._

-

Being back in the karaoke bar brought back memories Atemu had tried to suppress. Looking around he could tell that it was a place where people usually came to have fun, to enjoy themselves, to sing… but this time the whole place was enshrouded in cloud of… unpleasantness. The air was heavy and filled with tension - and it most certainly wasn't good tension. The spirit seemed to feel it too, the Puzzle was giving a way a strange breath of anxiety.

There was no one else there, of which Atemu was partially happy and partially sad. No one else meant that there would be no one else there to experience the horror, but it also meant that he would likely get the full force of it pointed at him. He sighed while taking seat. Well, life was full of experiences; this just would be one of the worst kinds.

Before he had even tried to make himself comfortable - not that that would've been possible anyway - Souzouji walked in. He was dressed into gaudy outfit fit for Elvis impersonator - it went well with his hair, but certainly didn't make him look any better than he usually did. How anyone could think that kind of clothing looked good, Atemu didn't know.

"What? Where is everyone?" The so called singer asked while glancing around. "There should be at least fifteen people here!"

"It seemed that everyone was busy - studying mostly, I think, you know teachers have been hinting about pop quizzes and such…" Atemu said carefully and carefully schooled his expression to stay calm as Souzouji rushed forward and grabbed hold of his jacket.

"You couldn't sell a _single_ ticket?!" the singer roared.

"I'm here, aren't I?" Atemu asked cuttingly and was showed back to the seat.

"Well, you certainly are! And the show will go on all the way to the morning! And it will be a roaring performance you will never forget!" the singer snarled before stalking back to grab headphones. "Put these on, and we'll get down to business!"

_Aww, shit,_ Atemu thought while the headphones were thrown at him. If his hand shook tiniest bit, he hardly noticed as he saw how Souzouji turned the volume to maxim. _I'm going to go deaf, I swear it._ With dread he placed the headphones on. _Well, if that will happen, at least the spirit won't have a choice but to act…_

"And we'll be starting with my favourite song!" Souzouji screamed and started to… well, it really couldn't be called singing. It was more like screaming in something similar to tune. The first note had Atemu cringing in pain, and the next caused him to restrain himself from pulling the headphones off. It was even more horrible than it had been back in the first performance, and it hadn't been pleasant back then either. _Gods what inhuman voice…!_

When the song finally ended, Atemu was sweating thanks to the enormous discomfort. Souzouji, if he noticed this, didn't really care. "Yes, alright! Rock on!" the so called singer seemed to be getting into the mood. "Before next song I shall introduce this night's special guest!"

_Huh_? Atemu looked up with pained eyes as Souzouji pulled a curtain which had been covering the wall. It revealed very beaten Hanasaki, who seemed to be in the brink of unconsciousness. "Hanasaki!" Atemu cried and rushed forward.

"Well well, what a horrible state he is in… all because _you_, Atemu, took his tickets!" Souzouji grinned widely.

"Hanasaki," Atemu tried to call while kneeling to check the other teen's state. He was in bad state, but it couldn't be too serious or he would've been making sounds or pain or he would've been completely unconscious. "Hanasaki, I'm sorry. I was just trying to help," the spiky haired teen grimaced. He had been trying to safe Hanasaki from this only to have the boy beaten up like this. "This is all my fault…"

"No, Atemu… don't blame yourself," the smaller teen spoke in breathy, staggering voice. "You took my tickets… and this happened… as punishment for making you do my work… for me…" the alert look in his eyes started to fare. "I'm sorry…"

"Hanasaki…"

-

Souzouji frowned a little. He thought he had seen a flash of light at Atemu's chest, but that couldn't be. It wasn't like there was any device there, no phone or anything, just that strange golden thing which Atemu apparently thought to be good jewellery. Yeah right.

"This has been going on quite enough," Atemu's voice seemed to suddenly change in to softer, gentler tones as he stood up slowly. "Harming people like this, and for music of all things. Music is supposed to be beautiful, it's supposed to be joy and delight, and you… have turned it into torture." He turned around to look at Souzouji with sad look upon his face. "I'm sorry, but I cannot allow this to go on."

"What the…? What are you yammering about?" Souzouji frowned. Was it just him or was Atemu shorter suddenly?

Instead of answering, Atemu looked him for a moment with unreadable expression on his face. Then he shook his head. "Let me ask you a question. Are you coward?" At Souzouji's loud denial, he smiled gently. "Then you will join me in a little game."

"Game?" Confused, the singer looked the kid before him up and down. Had Atemu lost it and reverted back to childhood?

"It's a very simple game. It's called Game of Silence," Atemu turned and walked to the table, grapping something from the cabinet in the corner of the room. "These will do nicely. Before I will explain you the rules of this engagement, let me present you the tools of our game."

Placing two toys to the table, he took seat and motioned at the clown-like toys. "This is a Sound Pierrot, a toy. The clown will dance when it hears a sound." Tilting his head to the side, Atemu smiled. "And then the rules. They are quite simple. We need to maintain complete silence - no sounds at all. We will place Sound Pierrot in front of both of us, and the one whose toy dances first is the loser. Do you understand?"

Undressing his sunglasses Souzouji grinned. "What will I get if you loose?"

"You ma do what you want, and I will not try to stop you," Atemu said, making an allowing motion with his hand. "But if you lose, you will be judged."

_Judged, yeah right_, Souzouji snort. "Right then," he said and took seat. Atemu pushed one of the toys to him, and the game begun. And then… there was quiet. Atemu sat in the other side of the table with serene expression on his face, his eyes on the singer while Souzouji sat in his seat, his hands folded. It was strange to be quiet in the room where his own voice usually echoed, but if Souzouji would win, then… he would sing Atemu underground with hundred songs!

The silence stretched, tense and unbroken. Soon Souzouji noticed something which could be his lucky break. Atemu had a water glass near him, and there was plug of the headphones, teetering on the edge of falling on the brim of the glass. _Atemu hasn't noticed the plug… it's swaying quite well. It's only matter of time before the thing falls and makes a sound - and I will win!_

Staring at the plug, Souzouji grinned. _Fall, fall already!_ He thought, feeling his heart beat increase with the expectation. _Fall… fall! Heh, this is kind of exciting, my pulse is racing…_ yet the plug didn't fall, just teetered on the edge, swaying back and forth, just and just in balance… _Come on, fall already! Damn it, isn't it falling at all?! FALL!_

And suddenly, the doll in front of Souzouji himself was dancing. Staring at it with shock, he glanced back to the glass. The plug hadn't fallen! How on earth.

"It's the voice of your heart," Atemu said, motioning up behind Souzouji.

Turning around, the singer saw a loudspeaker. "What? Heartbeats!" he stuttered in shock. "Heartbeats from the speakers! But how--" turning to look at his hand, he saw that he was still holding the microphone. "The mike… I pushed the volume to max before…!"

"Your habit of hogging the mike now proves to be your undoing," Atemu spoke sadly, light flashing in his forehead before settling into shape of a third eye. "Souzouji, you lost. Judgement of Shadows!" he cried, pointing accusingly at the singer who jumped back with surprise. "The shadows would have me punish you, as a person so greedy for sound they would have me block your hearing with it, force you to listen to the endless beat of your own heart until you wouldn't be able to hear anything else…"

"But what would you learn?" Atemu's voice softened. "I've come to see that punishments aren't good teachings, so I will give you lesson instead. Silence! When you greed for your own voice, you will fall silent. When you will greed for music, you will only hear silence. Maybe you will then learn that sometimes silence is more beautiful than any word or note… but if you will not learn, _then_ you will be punished."

As Atemu stood up, the beats of Souzouji's own heart started to turn quieter and quieter until there was nothing but perfect, complete silence. Too shocked in this sudden hush, Souzouji didn't even try to stop Atemu from taking Hanasaki and leaving the singer in perfect quiet.

-

When Atemu came to, he wasn't in the karaoke bar anymore. Instead he was in his own room, sitting at his desk, with a piece of paper in front of him. He still had a pen in his hand, but he couldn't remember writing. His eyes fell to the paper and he saw that there was writing in it - it was written in Japanese, but something in the handwriting told him that the writer wasn't Japanese, not even nearly. The hiragana and kanji before him looked just too stylish and symbol like to be written by someone Japanese.

_I am your other self, the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. I cannot tell you any more than that, because that is all I know, you and your life are all I know. I know you hoped that I would be able to grant your wishes, but to my grief I cannot, it is not within my power. All I can do is protect you from those who would harm you. Like I did with Ushio, with the Director, and now with Souzouji._

_I'm sorry for my intrusion upon your life; I can feel that it distresses you. You are worried about me being able to posses you. All I can say to reassure you is that I only do it for your sake and that I cannot do it that much. It takes long for me to gather enough strength to take control over your body and it doesn't last long, so you should not worry about me stealing your life, that would be utterly impossible. But if you still fear me and what I might do upon you, just break the Puzzle, and I will bother you no more. You should not worry for my sake._

_I know you also may wish to speak to me. There is a way, if you agree to it. Ever person that lives has a room inside their souls - representation of their inner selves. You have also too, and mine is now right beside yours. If you wish to talk to me, we can do it there when you sleep. All you need to do is ask me before you go to sleep, and I will guide you there - and don't worry, you'll be able to exit the room when ever you wish._

_ And, as you will probably want to know, Hanasaki is fine. I escorted him back to his home after I dealt with Souzouji. He should be able to go to school tomorrow also. _

_ I swear, I only want the best for you_

_ Your other self _

Staring at the letter in shock, Atemu found that his heart was suddenly beating harshly against his chest. This was writing from his other self, from the spirit of the Puzzle? Letter to him? For some reason, that eased Atemu's mind great deal. If the spirit was agreeable enough to write to him to reassure him, then he couldn't really be that bad, right? Jonouchi had liked the spirit at first glance too and despite everything, Jonouchi had a good sense with people.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, Atemu took the letter and looked at it closely. The writing was really pretty, nothing like his usual hurried scrawl - sure, one could read his writing, and occasionally it did look good, but he had never seen anything like this. _He must be artistic_ he thought to himself, before turning to the suggestion. Room inside one's soul?

Should he take up the spirit's offer and meet him in that soul room place? Looking up from his desk, Atemu saw that it was getting late - it was the time to go to bed. Teetering on the edge of decision, he finally bolted up to go through his evening rituals before changing his clothing to pyjamas and slipping to bed - the Puzzle still around his neck.

_Spirit?_ He called for the presence in the puzzle with something akin to nervousness. _Take me to the soul room._

The spirit broadcasted array of relief, gratification and reassurance before Atemu could feel strange tugging in the back of his head. As his consciousness left his body, he thought dimly that it felt like someone was holding him…

And then he found himself standing in middle of a room. It was room very similar to his actual room, with exception that there was no desk, no bookshelves, and the floor was scattered with mechanical, jigsaw and other puzzles, games and books. The walls of the room were coloured by darker shades of sky blue, making giving it a strange feeling of cloudless evening.

But he couldn't see anyone there. Looking around, he found a door, and wondered if it would lead to the spirit's room. Stepping cautiously forward, he reached and pushed the door open. It revealed a corridor, and right in front of Atemu's door was strange a door adorned with large eye. It looked like the metal was somehow organic, with veins reaching towards the eye.

Before Atemu could reach for the rather intimidating door, it was pulled open - unlike Atemu's door, it opened inside and not outside. Behind the door Atemu could at first see only flickering darkness before he saw a shape. It was smaller than him, but as it came closer Atemu could see that it was eerily like him. The hair was just like his and the spirit was even dressed into his pyjamas, yet his smaller stature and wider eyes made difference. The spirit of the Puzzle looked younger than Atemu was.

"You… are not what I imagined," Atemu said, not knowing what to else say to this strange spirit.

To his surprise, the spirit merely smiled before pulling the door behind him shut. "I hope I don't disappoint you," the spirit said gently.

"No, no, it's just… you're kind of… small," Atemu scratched his neck. "I guess I had this mental image of you being bigger than I am, as you protect me."

"Height rarely means the same thing as power," the spirit said with a smile and casual shrug. "Appearances can be deceiving, and I find it more suiting to appear less threatening."

"Even though you go around cursing people?" Atemu asked with confusion.

"I don't curse, I teach and occasionally punish," the spirit said with gently berating smile. "Cursing is vastly different from what I do, and it would require magic - which is not something I posses."

"Then what it is that you did with Ushio and the others?"

"What I did was using the powers of the shadows - they are different from magic…" The spirit sighed and ran his hand through his hair, "…or so it feels anyway. You must forgive me, but all I have is intuition, I cannot know or sure. Al I know that what I can do has nothing to do with spells and chants."

"Hmm." Atemu looked at him for a moment. The spirit was honestly bothered about the fact that he couldn't remember anything, but was trying to hide it. Deciding to let that matter slide, Atemu moved onto the next topic. "What, exactly, you did with Ushio, the director and Souzouji?"

"I played a Shadow Game with them to test them, and when they lost I judged them," the spirit bowed his head a bit. "The shadows suggested certain punishments I could've used against them when they lost, but I didn't find it right, so I gave them a lesson instead. When Ushio will stop his greed for money, he will be cured from the illusion I placed him under. If the director will stop lusting for scoops and violence on the expense of others, he will also be freed from my lesson. When Souzouji starts appreciating the silence, he will be able to hear the sounds he wishes to hear again."

"And if they won't?" Atemu frowned.

"Then the Shadows will punish them as they originally wished me to do," the spirit shrugged. "For their sake, I hope they will learn. Shadow Penalties can be… cruel."

Atemu looked down to him with confusion and curiosity. "What are these shadows you speak of?"

"Shadows are the powers I can use, the powers of the Millennium Puzzle. It's, how should I put it, game magic - yet not magic. Shadows follow rules of games and when those rules are broken there will be penalty - the loser also will suffer a penalty. That is how they work," the spirit shook his head. "I cannot teach or punish anyone if they do not play with me, the shadows will not allow it. And I cannot play a shadow game without a pre-set penalty. It's hard to explain."

"So that's why you play with all of them." Atemu murmured thoughtfully. "Tell me of the games you've played so far."

---

And a third chapter. Not much to say about this one either. Thanks for the reviews, they keep me going, iäm glad that you like this drivel, and sorry about possible grammar errors


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